Nearly 200,000 Victorian companies, sole traders register for JobKeeper package
Victoria’s strict stay-at-home rules have been tweaked to allow parents to leave children with a babysitter. The move comes as business owners rush to apply for the JobKeeper support package, with more than a quarter of the nation’s registrations coming from the state.
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Premier Daniel Andrews has confirmed another Victorian has died from COVID-19, bringing the state’s death toll to 12.
A woman in her 80s passed away in hospital overnight on Tuesday.
The state recorded 21 new cases of coronavirus over the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 1212.
101 cases are believed to have been acquired through community transmission.
45 Victorians are hospital with the virus, including 12 in intensive care.
736 Victorians have recovered, and more than 60,000 have been tested.
Of the 1212 coronavirus cases across the state, 635 are in men and 577 in women.
980 cases have been recorded in metropolitan Melbourne, and 225 in regional Victoria.
CHANGES TO BABYSITTING RULES
Victorian parents can now have friends and family babysit their children under updated stay at home rules.
An update to the state government’s stay at home directions now allows parents to take children “to another person’s premises for the purpose of ... providing child-minding assistance.”
The babysitting can be either paid or on a voluntary basis.
But it can only happen if the parent needs to leave home for an essential reason, including to work or study, exercise, or obtain groceries.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the updated direction was not an invitation for families to start using the services of grandparents to babysit.
“Grandparents by their very nature are in those older age groups, they often have complex health challenges. It’s simply not smart, not right for us to be putting those people at risk,” Mr Andrews said.
“It’s a painful thing: grandparents want to spend time with their grandchildren ... but (restrictions) are what is delivering these better numbers, what’s buying us time, it’s what saving lives.”
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VICTORIANS SIGNING UP FOR JOBKEEPER PACKAGE
Almost 200,000 Victorian companies and sole traders have applied for fortnightly $1500 staff wage subsidies to stay afloat during the coronavirus crisis.
The Herald Sun can reveal more than a quarter of registrations for the $130 billion JobKeeper scheme — which is due to pass the parliament tonight — are from Victoria.
Of more than 700,000 registrations nationwide so far, 40 per cent are sole traders who have seen their turnover crash during the pandemic. Another 40 per cent are companies, and of those, 84 per cent are mum-and-dad small businesses with a normal annual turnover of less than $2 million.
Large businesses with an income above $250 million accounted for just 1 per cent of registrations, but that was expected to rise after the plan was legislated. The payments are due to start flowing to businesses from early next month.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday insisted the way of life Australians were used to would return once the pandemic was over.
“We will respond to this challenge, and we are up to the fight,” Mr Morrison said.
“We will pay the price needed to protect our sovereignty, and we will chart our way out.”
But Labor leader Anthony Albanese warned the unprecedented economic support measures had Australia heading “for a trillion-dollar debt”.
“It is a bill that will saddle a generation,” he said.
Under the JobKeeper package, coronavirus-affected businesses will receive a fortnightly payment to pass on to each of their employees for six months. Six million workers are expected to receive the subsidies, but Labor and the unions have raised concerns a further 1.1 million casual workers would miss out.
Full-time and part-time workers in approved businesses are eligible for the boost but casual workers must have worked for the same company for more than a year to qualify.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed he had the ability to alter the scheme to include other people once it passed, but that he would not use it to include more casuals.
He said the massive package was a “game changer” that would save millions of jobs.
“This is a very substantial program and indeed a program like none other,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Ratings agency S&P Global yesterday updated Australia’s triple-A credit rating, putting it on a negative outlook after a “substantial deterioration” in the nation’s finances.
POLICE DISH UP $11K OF FINES AT SOUTHBANK DINNER PARTY
Police interrupted a Southbank dinner party last night and dished out more than $11,000 of fines to a group who were flouting the stay-at-home laws.
Neighbours tipped police off to the inner city apartment party last night where seven women had gathered.
Each of the women, understood to be Chinese nationals studying in Melbourne, were given a hefty $1652 fine for breaking the tough COVID-19 social distancing laws.
An infringement notice, obtained by the Herald Sun, confirmed a fine issued about 9pm for a gathering of seven people.
The notice has been posted to the Chinese social media site WeChat as a warning to others who think they may be above the law.
It is understood four women live in the apartment together and the other three were guests.
This group were seven of the 114 fines issued by Victoria Police in the last 24 hours as part of Operation Sentinel.
Others who were fined included three mates busted playing video games in a loungeroom who did not live together and a party of four who were roaming the streets searching for drugs.
Operation Sentinel continues.
BIKIES BUSTED BREAKING SOCIAL DISTANCING LAWS
A group of bikies were caught flouting social distancing laws at the Rebels OMCG clubhouse last night.
The Echo taskforce found nine people – seven men adn two women – socialising at the Sunshine West clubhouse.
They were issued with a fine of $1652 each for breaching directions to stay at home issued by the Chief Health Officer.
“As always, Victoria Police will be closely proactively monitoring all activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs,” a police spokesman said. “This will include issuing fines whenever they are found breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directives by congregating in clubhouses.
VICTORIAN PREMIER SAYS MEASURES IN PLACE FOR 'MEDIUM TERM'
Daniel Andrews said that Victorians would need to maintain stage three shutdown measures for a while longer.
“These restrictions are with us for the medium term because they need to be,” Mr Andrews said.
“All in all people are doing a really fantastic job.
“That’s why we can report that relative stability in numbers … but it’s very fragile.
“There’s been some change to finetune some of these rules … Common sense has always tried to guide us where there’s been a need to make a change, I fully support the Chief Health Officer to reflect that.”
Mr Andrews said that community transmission would become the main concern over the following weeks.
“If you compare to the overall population of Victoria, it’s very small but our greatest concern … (is) community transmission of the virus,” he said.
“This was always going to be a phase that we moved into particularly as we closed the borders and mandatory quarantine for those who are flying home via Melbourne.
“I’m not going to sit here and try and crystal ball for every Victorian what the next stage looks like or a definitive timeline because it’s absolutely certain I will be up here in a few days’ or weeks’ time that I will have to revise all this.
“A vaccination for this virus is not something that’s been done before but the amount of effort that’s going into developing that fix … Ultimately, we can suppress this and keep our total case numbers low that prevents our hospitals from being overrun and prevents the type of New York scenes.”
STAY HOME OVER EASTER, PREMIER SAYS
Mr Andrews said that Easter would be drastically different for all Victorians this year.
“I’m not going to stop people going to properties they own, but they need to ask a simple question: ‘Do I need to be there?’,” he said.
“The only people that need to be gathering are your own household … your immediate household, that’s all.
“It’s not an AirBnb weekend, it’s not a day trip weekend.
“You need to stay home, you need to stay inside … you need to use common sense.
“I haven’t looked at the weather forecast, I hope it’s pouring rain all weekend.
“That’s what we saw last weekend and the numbers today reflect that.”
VICTORIAN BUSINESSES TAKING UP ECONOMIC STIMULUS
Mr Andrews said thousands of Victorians had jumped at the state government’s offer of economic support.
“There are some 16,000 business grants, 5000 of those ($10,000 each) are for the worst affected sectors — pubs, cafes, restaurants and others that have seen a significant reduction in their turnover,” he said.
Mr Andrews said 17,000 Victorian businesses had received payroll tax relief from the government so far.
1300 Victorians have so far been employed in the new ‘Working For Victoria’ program, which includes working at Food Bank and cleaning trams, the Premier said.
The premier said 50,000 Victorians applied for the ‘WorkingFor Victoria’ program.
“We have achieved a lot in the last three weeks, and we have asked a lot of Victorians,” he said.
BUMPY DAY IN PARLIAMENT
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had a socially-distanced celebration on an unusual parliamentary sitting day yesterday.
The pair shared an elbow bump in the chamber during a slimmed-down session, called to pass the legislation needed for the government’s unprecedented $130 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy package.
It came after Mr Frydenberg politely offered to shake Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese’s hand, only to remember the new health protocols.
“Went to shake his hand but he rightly reminded me we couldn’t,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“It’s a habit that is hard to break but an important reminder of social distancing.”
The Labor leader added that it “wasn’t personal”.
“We have to be very disciplined about it. And it’s a good thing that Australians are doing the right thing and people in leadership positions have a particular responsibility,” he said.
“The least we can do is do what we say that others should do.”
PRIME MINISTER ADDRESSES PARLIAMENT
Scott Morrison has warned Australians of a long fight ahead.
“There is a long way to go in this fight,” he said.
“We are flattening the curve.
“We are buying ourselves precious time in this fight.
“And I want to thank the overwhelming majority of Australians for doing the right thing.
“You are saving lives. You are saving livelihoods.
“But we have to keep up our efforts.
“Progress can be easily undone, as we have seen in other places around the world.
“We’re only a few days away from Easter, a time that should give us great hope.
“And the message is clear, though: Stay home. Don’t travel. Don’t go away.
“We can’t let up now.”
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BIG CHANGES COMING TO WORKPLACE LAWS
Workers will be able to hang on to two weeks of annual leave but their bosses can stand them down, reduce their hours or change their duties if they need the government’s help to pay their wages.
Sweeping changes will be made to the nation’s workplace laws today as federal parliament sits to pass the $130 billion JobKeeper package, which will provide fortnightly $1500 subsidies to support the jobs of six million workers. It comes as new rules are locked in to support small businesses struggling to pay rent due to the coronavirus crisis.
Under a mandatory code of conduct set up by the National Cabinet, businesses with an annual turnover of up to $50 million — which has crashed more than 30 per cent — must be offered rental discounts or deferrals by their landlords, linked to their loss of trade.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged tenants and landlords to work together in good faith, with binding mediation to take place if agreements could not be reached.
“This preserves the lease, it preserves the relationship, it keeps the tenant in the property,” he said.
More than 700,000 businesses have signed up for JobKeeper subsidies, with the cash to flow from the start of May.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has negotiated temporary changes to the Fair Work Act with the Australian Council of Trade Unions, which he said would save tens of thousands of jobs.
The overhaul means employers accessing subsidies could stand down staff or reduce their hours if work had dried up due to the pandemic, but they could not reduce their normal hourly rate of pay.
Employees put in that position could then request permission to take up a second job.
Employers and employees will be able to negotiate safe and reasonable changes to the normal duties and work locations of staff. And employees would not be able to unreasonably refuse changes to normal days of work or requests to take annual leave, but they would be allowed keep two weeks.
An Australian Bureau of Statistics report, released yesterday, showed a quarter of businesses had deferred loan repayments because of the pandemic and more than a third had already renegotiated their lease arrangements.
Almost half of the 3000 businesses surveyed had made changes to their workforce in the past fortnight. In the accommodation and food services industry, 70 per cent had temporarily cut staff hours and 43 per cent had put workers on unpaid leave.
STUDENTS EMBRACE ONLINE LEARNING FOR TERM 2
Year 12 student Harry Johnston was among the first to experience at-home learning when his school Carey Grammar shut three weeks before the end of term one.
Harry, 17, said the system put in place at short notice had enabled him to keep up to speed with his learning, but there had been challenges along the way.
“Learning to adapt to the new online classroom has been a challenge,” he said.
“The lack of human connection between students and teachers has been widely discussed amongst my friends.
“Online learning can never replace the effectiveness of in-person education.
“I set my goals around the ‘business as usual’ school year and now it has been substantially changed, I am worried about how my performance will be effectively measured.”
In line with the new education restrictions announced yesterday, Carey Grammar said it would continue to deliver online learning in term two.
While it didn’t come as a shock, Harry said he felt a sinking disappointment when it was confirmed he would not return for term two.
“Friends are a large aspect of why we enjoy going to school and learning — with the social distancing restrictions in place we cannot connect as we normally would, and that’s one of the hardest things to handle,” he said.
His mum, Herald Sun fashion and lifestyle editor Kim Wilson, said they were fortunate Harry had access to effective online learning, but the uncertainty around the VCE and how it would be assessed added more stress to the need for parents to become more active in their child’s learning.
“I’m relieved the plan is to try to contain the VCE to 2020, albeit finishing far later … the prospect of rolling into next year is too overwhelming to contemplate,” she said.
“The questions students and parents are now asking is how does this play out in a practical sense, how will the curriculum and assessment process be adapted and what impact will this have on a student’s ATAR?
“There are still so many unanswered questions.”
FRIENDS PAY TRIBUTE TO CORONAVIRUS VICTIM
A woman in her 70s who died of COVID-19 has been remembered as someone who “always had a smile for everyone” and had a passion for the Mornington Railway Preservation Society.
Elaine Cairns (left), who was a member of the rail group’s marketing team, died on Saturday.
The Preservation Society paid tribute to her in a post that said: “It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that the Mornington Railway informs its followers of the loss of a valued member of our railway family.”
“Rest in Peace Elaine, thank you for everything you did for us at the Mornington Railway and God Bless You,” it said.
‘HORROR SCENARIO’ IF AUSTRALIANS GET COMPLACENT
Australia faces an “explosive resurgence” of the coronavirus if unprecedented social distancing and self-isolation rules are relaxed.
Authorities are now on high alert for the Easter long weekend, with Scott Morrison warning the nation faces a “horror scenario” if people become complacent about the pandemic.
Alarming modelling, released yesterday (TUES) by the Prime Minister, showed about 30,000 critically ill Australians would have been left to fight the coronavirus without intensive care if it was allowed to rip through the country.
The worst-case scenario model, based on international evidence, predicted an uncontrolled outbreak would infect almost 23 million Australians, 38 per cent of whom would need medical care.
At the peak, 35,000 people would have needed intensive care beds — and hospitals would have only had room for 15 per cent, likely costing thousands of lives.
The national cabinet used the modelling to decide on quarantine, isolation and social distancing measures, with overseas experience suggesting that would reduce community transmission of the virus by a third, freeing up intensive care beds for all at-risk patients.